Gun Smith Skills Crossover to Evinrude Reair

I'm not actually a gunsmith, but sometimes imitate one with pretty good success. I buy a lot of old wrecks of rifles and pistols and have fun making them work as intended, sometimes having to create missing parts, from what I scrounge out of my ummmm treasures.

Well I found myself working on an Evinrude 15 HP outboard motor, that is in pretty good shape, but -- has been messed with by someone who didn't quite know what they were doing. (I think they knew just a little bit less than I do about it.:roll:)

Anyway, I found that my skills and previous experience came in handy in creating a carburetor linkage that replaces a part that isn't available. It was very similar to a trigger or safety linkage that one might find on various bolt action rifles.

I've still got to finish assembling the motor - carb, flywheel, starter, tiller/throttle handle, and such. BUT-- I think I've nailed it on this carb-choke linkage. These old motors are pretty well made, although designed in weird ways, so as to fit a lot of stuff in a small housing. Been a pretty fun project so far, and a punch to my man-card if I have final success. jd

I have an evinrude 40253E I'm beginning to work on. It ran 14 years ago when they parked it. Now its locked up. I believe it's the gearcase that's locked and not the motor, since you can see the pistons move a bit when trying to turn the flywheel, it will move about 3/8". I am hoping the motor wont need anything significant, and just need to work on the gearcase. The whole unit is in good condition though, no hack job repairs or other nonsense. Im hoping it'll work out well. its my first experience with outboards. I have a clymer shop manual for it.

I'd love any tips or insight, links or websites that you might could share.

Bazoo, I've been going on this site for break-down pics, and parts info.


https://www.marineengine.com/parts/j...ROTTLE+CONTROL


Also Youtube videos are your friend. Some better than others.

I'm not familiar with your model number, but I'll say that for me, I do better by taking lots of pictures as I go, and I'd rather disassemble stuff that's in my way than try to accomplish magic where my fat fingers don't fit. jd

On most of the smaller outboards it only takes removing four bolts to drop the lower unit. Maybe a bit of wiggling and persuasion with a rubber hammer. Inventive language always seems to help when messing with outboards.

This may let you see the water pump impeller too, a good lube on it before startup isn't a bad idea.

New grease in the lower unit, and don't start it without water for the pump.

Good Luck,

Robert

Mechanical knowledge does definitely translate from machine to machine.

...smokeless powder or gasoline, however both are internal combustion engines :oops:

Here is the next step of my project. It is completely disassembled, and I have to put it back together. A lot of thirty year old plastic and rubber parts with tricky snap-loc tech. Looks to be about as complicated as the action on a Winchester lever gun. The kind of stuff that either you can't get it, or if you can, it costs more by weight than cocain. I'm pretty much patting my own back for not having ruined anything -- yet. jd

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I used to help my Grandfather on the ranch, to rebuild outboards, tractors and a Willis Jeep. I hated old nasty grease covered motors. So today, if I can not get it in a parts washer, it goes out to get fixed. Odd in that I have no problem with am nasty M-60 or Ma Duce, but a nasty lawnmower, not even interested. Probably a major failing....but.

Currently working on a Martin 45 ,4.5 hp motor made in 1950. I am lucky on parts as my bio owns Martin Motors.

The most frequent combinations I’ve seen in the past were gunsmithing with clock making and gunsmithing with locksmithing. Working with small motors (outboards or lawnmowers) doesn’t really seem like a very large leap… especially old pre-electronic motors.
Froggie

Basically back when I started doing my gunsmithing projects, I was just out of high school and starting to go to school to learn to be a mechanic.
A few years later a friend and I built a Mini Hydroplane boat with a outboard motor converted to an inboard motor.
One thing I found was.
Never make your Avocation your Vocation.
I use to love working on cars.
It was fun and a pleasure to do.
But when I had to do it for a living , it became work.
And lots of the pleasure went away.
That is why I never did gunsmithing as a business.

Amen! ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Something to be aware of when it comes to small engine stuff. The ethanol content in the gas has been raised to around 33%. This is from Stihl, the chainsaw people. Storage life is about 2 weeks. It's wrecking carburetors like crazy. I personally have had a Toyota motor put out of commission from this crap, it literally glued the intake valves to the guides. Best bet is to use ethanol free fuel if you can find it. It may be hard to find but it will save you lots of headaches in the future. An alternative is 100 lowlead aviation fuel. Do not use it in your car if equipped with a catalyst.

Just understanding how things work is the way we use to fix things it does not matter if it is a gun or a motor .

Jackrabbit1957 I take it we are the same age ? I have not heard of 33% ethanol yet but dimocrats want to force 15% at the pump it is possible to get some variance in tanks . I have used ethanol gas in my stuff since being forced to it and a bit of stabile and I have had few problems . Gum and varnish from the fuel tank and fuel lines is often the largest issue when first using gas with ethanol. With that said I am in Michigan a person in a hotter more humid area may indeed have more issues with ethanol in fuel !

I have found that in general 10% ethanol reduces mileage by 7% in a car or truck with new computer control engines . Oddly older carburetor engines did not seem to lose mileage or drivability until 15% ethanol .